Egypt
also came second among developing countries in 2015 arms transfer
agreements — agreements that were signed but not necessarily delivered —
signing agreements worth $11.9 billion. Qatar ranked first, with
agreements worth $17.5 billion.

According to the report, which
traces arms sales to developing nations between 2008 and 2015, Egypt
signed arms transfers agreements totaling $30 billion, coming third
after Saudi Arabia and India.

Egypt ranked sixth among developing
countries in total arms transfers agreements between 2008 and 2011,
worth $8.6 billion. The US was the biggest arms exporter to Egypt in
this period, with 79 percent of total arms transfer agreements, followed
by China then Russia.

In the same period, Egypt’s actual arms
imports reached $5 billion, the fifth largest among developing
countries. Between 2012 and 2015, Egypt ranked fourth in arms imports at
a total of $9.8 billion, preceded by Saudi, India and Iraq. The report
indicates that Egypt’s arms transfer agreements for this period reached
$21.5 billion.

Western European countries and Russia were major
arms exporters to Egypt in this period, with 43 percent of agreements
respectively, then came the US with 6 percent.

The report revealed
that US and Russia were major arms exporters to developing countries in
the period between 2012 and 2015, with 81 percent of the total arms
transfer agreements.

In 2015 only, Qatar topped the developing
nations signing arms transfer agreements with $17.5 billion, followed by
Egypt with $11.9 billion, Saudi with $8.6 billion, then South Korea
with $5.4 billion.

Arms transfer agreements signed by Egypt in
2015 represented 15 percent of total agreements signed worldwide, which
reached $80 billion, according to the report.

A report published by London-based global analysis firm IHS Markit. indicated that Egypt’s military imports reached $2.268 billion in 2015, making it the world’s fourth-largest defense importer.

Egypt
receives $1.3 billion in annual military aid from the US, and under
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi it has also made major purchases from
other exporting countries, including Russia and France.

High-profile
deals include a 2015 agreement with France
to purchase 5.2 billion euro worth of military equipment, including 24
Rafale fighter jets and a naval frigate, and a contract with Russian
firm Rosoboronexport to buy 46 attack helicopters.

Cairo (AFP) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has
approved a law to set up a council headed by his appointees that
oversees the media and ensures compliance with "national security"
requirements.

The law, passed by parliament and published in the official gazette
on Monday, mandates the council to investigate media funding and fine or
revoke permits of those deemed in violation.

The council will be composed of a head picked by Sisi and 12 members
recommended by parliament and other institutions, and also approved by
the president. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has
accused Egypt of placing restrictions on media and being a "leading
jailer of journalists."

The law says the council would guarantee the right of citizens "to
enjoy a free and honest media". But it also tasks the council with
"guaranteeing the compliance of media institutions to the requirements
of national security."

Sisi has dismissed criticisms of media restrictions in Egypt, but he
regularly complains of its performance and has suggested it occasionally
harms the country with critical coverage.

The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate official Khaled Elbalshy said the
law tightens government control on media. "The new law entrenches the
status quo including control over the media through a council picked by
the executive branch," he told AFP.

The law came days after police arrested a journalist with the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel on suspicion of fabricating news on the country.

Egypt accuses the channel of backing the Muslim Brotherhood movement,
outlawed after the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in
2013 and cracked down on his supporters.

Egypt had provoked international condemnation in 2013 when it
arrested three Al-Jazeera journalists, including a Canadian and an
Australian, and sentenced them to jail on similar accusations. They were
later released.

According to a report published by the independent Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR)
on Monday, a total of 1,736 protests took place in Egypt over the
course of 2016. This figure represents a decrease in the number of
protests that the ECESR reported in 2015, when a total of 1,955 protests
took place nationwide.

According
to the ECESR acts of protest can be divided into three distinct
categories: social, economic and labor protests. Based on this
breakdown, the ECESR reported that the majority of protests which
took place this year can be categorized as labor protests,
numbering 726.

The second highest category was social
protests, with 633 taking place across the country. The report also
states hat 377 economic protests took place nationwide.

LABOR PROTESTS

February saw the largest number of recorded labor and workplace protests, with 108 taking place.

Government
employees carried out the greatest number of labor actions throughout
the year, engaging in 478 acts of protest, followed by the public then
the private sector, which witnessed 133 and 107 protests, respectively.

According to the ECESR report, the high number of protests among government workers and employees was largely triggered by the passing of the controversial Civil Service Law, a revised version of which was approved this year. The law and imposes a caps on wages and bonuses.

Employees
from the Health Ministry were at the forefront of labor protests in the
governmental sector this year, engaging in 159 demonstrations. This was
followed by the Education Ministry’s employees who took part in 74
protests.

Looking at the specific grievances, the
greatest number of industrial actions (379) were in protest against
working conditions. This was followed by protests over demands for
financial compensation, amounting to 368, followed by 367 protests over
claims of corruption and financial irregularities.

Protests over demands
for employment amounted to 153, while 139 protests took place over
disputes pertaining to contractual agreements.

Cairo
was the governorate that accounted for the largest number of labor
protests in 2016, with 454 industrial actions taking place, followed by
Sharqiya with 128, and Gharbiya with 119 labor protests.

SOCIAL PROTESTS

According
to the ECESR, the category of social protests are those which are not
based on, or motivated by, economic factors. Accordingly ‘social
protests’ include actions organized by members of residential
communities, students, and others.

Of the 633 social protests witnessed across Egypt this year, the majority took place in September – with 86 recorded that month.

The
main motivating factors behind social protests this year were
corruption and negligence, with citizens organizing 366 such protests.
Education-related protests followed, with 218 taking place this year, as
well as 77 protests organized over security-related demands.

ECONOMIC PROTESTS

Out of the 377 economic protests recorded this year, May saw the highest incidence with 59 taking place.

According
to the ECESR, economic protests are those triggered primarily by the
government’s monetary and fiscal policies, which directly impact the
economic interests of different categories of people, particularly small
business owners.

Within all three categories, the most
common form of dissent this year was the protest rally, which included
protests and marches, reaching a total of 1,210. This was followed by
labor strikes or work stoppages, of which 282 incidents were reported,
followed by 134 sit-ins or sleep-ins. Finally the ECESR reported84 incidents where participants inflicted self harm, including suicides and attempted suicides.

Local residents were the demographic which carried out the highest number of protests this year (457.)

Manual
workers and laborers partook in 359 industrial actions, civil servants
participated in 167 protests, students in 160, transport workers and
drivers were involved in 132, teachers participated in 75, doctors in
67, nurses in 71, shopkeepers in 41 while the unemployed and graduates
were collectively involved in 62 protests.

The ECESR’s
monthly and annual protest figures are based on information published on
news websites and portals. They have been issuing periodic and
annual reports on protests in Egypt since 2012.

The
latest report covers the period from January 1 until December 20. The
ECESR will follow up this publication with a more detailed annual report
on 2016 protests in February 2017.

Donald Trump and Israel had urged Washington to use its veto to stop historic security council resolution

The United Nations
security council has adopted a landmark resolution demanding a halt to
all Israeli settlement in the occupied territories after Barack Obama’s
administration refused to veto the resolution.
A White House official said Obama had taken the decision to abstain in the absence of any meaningful peace process.

The resolution passed by a 14-0 vote on Friday night. Loud applause
was heard in the packed chamber when the US ambassador, Samantha Power,
abstained.

All remaining members of the security council, including the UK,
voted in support. Egypt, which had drafted the resolution and had been
briefly persuaded by Israel to postpone the vote, also backed the move.

Friday’s vote was scheduled at the request of four countries – New
Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela – who stepped in to push for
action a day after Egypt put the draft resolution on hold.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s office said the vote was “a big
blow” to Israeli policy and a show of “strong support for the two-state
solution”.

The resolution says Israel’s settlements on Palestinian territory
occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have “no legal validity”
and demands a halt to “all Israeli settlement activities,” saying this
“is essential for salvaging the two-state solution.”

The resolution reiterated that Israeli settlement was a “flagrant violation” of international law.
The United States vetoed a similar resolution in 2011, which was the
sole veto cast by the Obama administration at the security council.

The abstention decision underlined the tension between Obama and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who had made furious efforts to prevent such a move.

A resolution requires nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the
United States, France, Russia, Britain or China in order to be adopted.
Among those who welcomed the resolution was UN secretary general Ban
Ki-moon.

“The secretary general takes this opportunity to encourage Israeli
and Palestinian leaders to work with the international community to
create a conducive environment for a return to meaningful negotiations,”
said his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

Explaining the US abstention, Power said the Israeli settlement
“seriously undermines Israel’s security”, adding : “The United States
has been sending a message that the settlements must stop privately and
publicly for nearly five decades.”

Power said the US did not veto the resolution because the Obama
administration believed it reflected the state of affairs regarding
settlement and remained consistent with US policy.

“One cannot simultaneously champion expanding Israeli settlements and
champion a viable two-state solution that would end the conflict. One
had to make a choice between settlements and separation,” Power said.

The US decision to abstain was immediately condemned by Netanyahu’s
office as “shameful” which pointedly referred to Israel’s expectation of
working more closely with Donald Trump.

“Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and
will not abide by its terms,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
“The Obama administration not only failed to protect Israel against this
gang-up at the UN, it colluded with it behind the scenes.

“Israel looks forward to working with president-elect Trump and with
all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate
the harmful effects of this absurd resolution.”

The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, bluntly told the
council that the resolution would not have the hoped-for impact of
spurring peace efforts.

“By voting yes in favour of this resolution, you have in fact voted
no. You voted no to negotiation, you voted no to progress and a chance
for better lives for Israelis and Palestinians, and you voted no to the
possibility of peace,” Danon told the council.

The vote will, however, be seen as a major defeat for Netanyahu, who
has long had a difficult relationship with the Obama administration.

Netanyahu had tried to prevent the vote by appealing to Trump, who
will not be sworn in until late January, and to the Egyptian president,
Abdel Fatal al-Sisi.

While the resolution is largely symbolic, it will be seen as
empowering an increasingly tough UN over Israel and will give pause to
international companies who have interests in the occupied territories.

Following the vote Trump, tweeted: “As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20.”

Commenting on Trump’s attempted intervention, a White House official
insisted that until Trump’s inauguration on 20 January there was one US
president - Obama.

Pro-Israel senators and lobby groups also weighed in following the
vote. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), one of the
most influential lobby groups, said it was “deeply disturbed by the
failure of the Obama administration to exercise its veto to prevent a
destructive, one-sided, anti-Israel resolution from being enacted by the
United Nations security council.”

It also pointedly thanked Trump for his attempts to intervene: “AIPAC
expresses its appreciation to president-elect Trump and the many
Democratic and Republican members of Congress who urged a veto of this
resolution.”

The United Nations maintains that settlements are illegal, but UN
officials have reported a surge in construction over the past months.

About 430,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and a further
200,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the
capital of their future state.

The resolution demands that “Israel immediately and completely cease
all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory,
including East Jerusalem”.

It states that Israeli settlements have “no legal validity” and are
“dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution.”

Cairo’s governor has proposed a project to rid the capital’s streets of
animal carts. He is not the first to do so, but how likely is it to
succeed this time?

December 18, 2016

Jano Charbel

Cart owners don’t think the new government program 'Cairo Without
Animal Carts' will achieve its stated aim of ridding the Egyptian capital
of carts drawn by horses, donkeys and mules.

The program,
announced by Cairo Governor Atef Abdel Hamid at the end of November,
would marshal in a process by which animal-drawn carts would be phased
out and their owners given economic support to purchase motor vehicles.

Yahia
Shawkat, an urban researcher and one of the founders of 10 Tooba
Applied Research for the Built Environment, explains that “Certain types
of carts — such as those used in garbage disposal, recycling,
tanneries, pleasure rides — are usually associated with the local
industries of certain neighborhoods.”

Animal-drawn carts sustain thousands of low-income households, and yet, in recent years, numerous municipal officials across several governorates have sought to ban them, attempts which have proven unsuccessful.

In
the Cairo Governorate alone, movement against carts has been ventured
as an outright prohibition in 1973, 1987, 1999 and 2006 and as the
center of anti-cart police campaigns in 2010.

The state’s argument
for banning animal-drawn carts is twofold: As slow moving vehicles,
carts obstruct the flow of traffic and lead to road accidents, and carts
negatively affect Egypt’s image, presenting it as unclean and
disorderly.

But
far from this understanding of animal carts as primitive and backward,
Shawkat suggests that they are actually safer and more environmentally
friendly. The attempts to ban and curb the use of carts in Egypt, he has
previously argued, “cannot be dissociated from it being a poor person’s vehicle.”

On last week’s episode of television show “Manchettes Qarmouty”(Qarmouty’s
Headlines) last week, which is broadcast on the privately owned
Al-Assema television channel, Gaber al-Qarmouty arranged to have a
donkey cart rolled into the studio. With dramatic flare, the words “Goodbye to the animal carts of Cairo” were written on the animal’s hind.

Qarmouty
climbed into the back of the cart with its owner, Sameh, and asked if
the word “arbagy” (cart driver) – which is often used as a derogatory
term to roughly denote someone who is callous, of low-social standing,
or with little formal education – offended him.

“Yes, it upsets me,” Sameh responded. In a show of respect, Qarmouty kissed his head.

Qarmouty
continued on to outline the failure of previous attempts to ban animal
carts, asking Sameh about a range of viable alternatives, including
motorcycle-rickshaws.

BUY-IN AND FEASIBILITY OF A 'CAIRO WITHOUT CARTS'

Within
the framework established by the Cairo Without Animal Carts
initiatives, the sale of motor vehicles – ranging from
motorcycle-rickshaws and trucks to pickups – will be incentivized by
providing cart owners with soft loans that have long-term repayment
plans, on the condition that they forfeit their carts.

While the full
extent of the financing details has not been disclosed, Cairo’s governor
has stated that the Fund for Social Development and civil society organizations will be a part of the process.

However,
the governorate’s plan faces potential obstacles on two fronts: the
legal problems posed by an influx of new first-time drivers and doubts
regarding the transition’s economic feasibility that are joined to
skepticism about being lifted out of the informal economy and into the
state’s line of vision.

However, according to the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper,
Cairo Governorate has taken the issue into account and is offering
basic literacy courses in coordination with the Fund for Social
Development and adult educational institutions.

The larger issue,
however, centers on the financial feasibility of the modernization
plan and whether those whom it will most affect view it as legitimate.

The
financial terms suggested by Cairo Governorate, Shawkat argues, would
be a significant burden on households dependent on economic
activities linked to animal-driven carts. “Many would go into debt, and
defaults on loans would likely be very high.”

While Shawkat
estimates a cart driver’s monthly net income at LE1,400, the labor that
is associated with the mode of transport is often precarious. Sameh, the
driver that spoke to Qarmouty and works in a supplementary role for
construction companies in the capital, said his take-home wages have
fallen to a few hundred pounds due to the economic downturn.

Ahmed
Hamdy, the owner of a horse-drawn cart from which he sells tangerines
in Cairo’s working class neighborhood Manshiet Nasser, puts the cost of a
cart between several hundred pounds and approximately LE2,000,
depending on its specifications and weight capacity. The price of an
adult horse, he adds, can range from LE1,000 to LE5,000, while the cost
of a donkey or mule may range from several hundred pounds to LE2,500.

In comparison, a used pickup would cost tens of thousands of pounds and a used truck would come in at over LE100,000.

“How could we make a living or feed our families without
our carts? Our livelihoods depend on these animals and equipment,” says
cart owner Galal Hafez, who lives in Cairo’s working class neighborhood
Zahraa and has spent the past 30 years collecting paper, cardboard,
plastic and glass for recycling. His two sons work in the same line of
business, and each operate their own animal-drawn cart.

“Yes,
sometimes our carts obstruct traffic,” Hafez admits, but he contends
that traffic is slow due in greater part due to the number of cars on
the road.

Hafez says his horse consumes about LE50 worth of animal
fodder each day and sleeps in the family’s living room, as he has
nowhere else to keep it. He estimates he takes home LE1,200 per month
from the recycling he is able to collect using his cart.

While
Hafez had not heard of the Cairo Without Animal Carts initiative, when
informed he professes skepticism of its chance of success.

“If I
could afford to pay installments for a truck, I would. But we’re
struggling just to pay for life’s basic necessities. We are barely
making a living these days,” he said.

Gamal Mahmoud drives his
cart through the Cairo neighborhood of Maadi, collecting and reselling
used household goods. He states that any attempt to ban animal carts
will be “a failed project.”

Not dissimilar to Hafez, Mahmoud
concedes that carts can obstruct the flow of traffic and says he would
gladly trade in his donkey and cart for an automobile, but that he
cannot afford the change.

“What about people like me who cannot
afford to pay for installments?” he says. “Are we supposed to steal so
that we can buy a truck?”

In
Manshiet Nasser, a line of animal-drawn carts loaded with refuse slowly
wind their way down streets, making their way toward disposal and
recycling centers. Here, Hamdy parks on a side street to sell
tangerines.

While cart drivers’ placement in the informal economy
comes with burdens – including the high cost of equipment and animal
maintenance – Hamdy says that his lot is better now than if he had to
cover the higher costs that come with motor vehicles. He looks around,
pointing out the cart workshops around him.

And beyond whether the
government’s plan is economically prudent, the tangerine seller says a
motor vehicle would not suit his trade. The flatbed of a
motorcycle-rickshaw can transport less than half of the two tons his
cart can carry and is restricted in the type of cargo it can carry due
to its dimensions. While his cart is longer than a pickup truck, Hamdy
says, “it is also narrower and can be driven down tight alleyways.”

Across
the street, Ahmed Farid, another fruit vendor, says he is frequently
harassed by police officers and municipal authorities. “They either want
to fine us or confiscate our carts. We just want to be left alone to
tend to our work.”

Farid says he would never trade in his horse
and cart for a motor vehicle, because he is concerned that a license
plate would make it easier for the police to monitor him.

A PROPOSAL FOR REGULATION AND REFORM

Regulation
and reforms rather than a ban are the best way to address the issues
posed by animal-drawn carts, says Shawkat, pointing out that carts are
allowed on the streets of the United Kingdom and the United States, among other industrial and “civilized” countries, albeit with strict regulations governing their operation.

“A complete ban would amount to the loss of the livelihoods of countless cart drivers and their families,” he says.

Shawkat
argues that special lanes should be created for animal-drawn carts to
ease traffic congestion, particularly on high-speed intercity roads and
highways. He also advocates for other measures to reduce the likelihood
of accident, such as mandating carts by equipped with battery-powered
lights and reflectors, so as to be more visible at night.

However,
while Egypt has one of the world’s highest rates of traffic accidents,
they are not primarily caused by the presence of animal-drawn carts.

In
2015, 25,500 people were either killed or injured in traffic accidents,
according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics
(CAPMAS). Private cars caused 36.8 percent of accidents, with trucks
causing 27.8 percent and taxis 18.9 percent.

The figures suggest
that, even if a move to ban animal-drawn carts from the capital’s
streets were possible, it may not lead to a significant decrease in
accidents.

“We need better traffic regulations for road safety and
efficiency in general,” Shawkat says. “This applies to animal carts,
but some automobiles don’t have lights. Why should we worry only about
applying these regulations to animal carts?”

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 2016 has seen
a record number of journalists jailed worldwide, marking the worst year
on record with an unprecedented 259 behind bars. Egypt is listed as the third worst offender with 25 journalists in jail, preceded by China with 38 and Turkey with 81.

In its latest report,
published on Tuesday, the New York-based group writes that, “More
journalists are jailed around the world than at any time since the CPJ
began keeping detailed records in 1990, with Turkey accounting for
nearly a third of the global total.”

The five countries at the top
of the list account for 68 percent of all journalists imprisoned
worldwide since December 1, 2016. This includes Ethiopia, and Eritrea.

This year’s statistics are a significant increase from the 199 journalists who were behind bars in 2015, and surpass the previous record of 232 imprisoned in 2012.

Turkey’s
high ranking this year is a result of an “ongoing crackdown that
accelerated after a failed coup attempt in July,” according to the
report. The government has increasingly imprisoned journalists seen as
sympathetic to exiled opposition cleric Fethullah Gülen or the attempted
coup.

Eight of Egypt’s 25 jailed journalists have been locked up
for more than three years, since the ouster of Islamist president
Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013. The remaining 17 have been imprisoned for
periods ranging from several weeks to years. This is an increase from
the 23 imprisoned in 2015, when Egypt was ranked the second worst jailer of journalists after China.

Some
are linked to Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated newspapers like Rassd,
while several others are TV correspondents, freelance reporters and
photojournalists. Most are being detained in Cairo’s Tora Prison,
although some are being held in Alexandria, Port Said, Arish, Fayoum and
Gamasa, among others.

One of the most high profile prisoners is freelance photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid — popularly known as Shawkan — who has spent over three years in jail. He was arrested by security forces for photographing the violent dispersal of the Rabea sit-in. Shawkan, who suffers from Hepatitis C, has claimed he has been denied access to necessary medical care, and has not yet been sentenced by a court.

Detained
on July 3, 2013, Rassd photojournalist Mahmoud Abdel Nabi has spent the
most time behind bars. He has remained in detention for over three
years and five months, pending his sentencing.

CAIRO
— A bomb ripped through a section reserved for women at Cairo’s main
Coptic cathedral during Sunday morning Mass, killing at least 25 people
and wounding 49, mostly women and children, Egyptian state media said.

The attack was the deadliest against Egypt’s Christian minority in years. Video from the blast site
circulating on social media showed blood-smeared floors and shattered
pews among the marble pillars at St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral,
the seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian Church, where the blast occurred
in a chapel adjacent to the main building.

As
security officials arrived to secure the site, angry churchgoers
gathered outside and hurled insults, accusing them of negligence.

There
was no immediate claim of responsibility, although the attack bore the
hallmark of Islamist militants fighting President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
who have previously targeted minority Christians over their perceived
support for his government.

It
was the second major attack in the Egyptian capital in three days,
marking a jarring return to violence after months of relative calm. An
Islamist militant group claimed responsibility for an explosion at a
security check post on Friday that killed six police officers.

Egyptian
security officials, quoted by state media, said that an explosive
device containing about 26 pounds of TNT had been placed in the chapel.
It went off during Mass around 10 a.m.

Most
of the dead and wounded were women and children, Sherief Wadee, an
assistant minister for health, said in a television interview. Mr. Sisi
declared three days of mourning, state media said.

Hours
later, hundreds of angry worshipers gathered at the church gates to
register their anger. “We either avenge them or die like them,” they
chanted. Tarek Attiya, a police spokesman, denied accusations of lax
security at the church, and said the police had been operating a metal
detector at the church entrance as normal.

A
current of fury and frustration ran through the crowd gathered at the
church gates, much of it directed at Mr. Sisi and his supporters and
expressed in unusually strong terms.

At
one point the crowd broke into chants of “the people demand the
downfall of the regime,” the signature call of the mass uprising in 2011
that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

The
crowd pushed out three prominent television presenters seen as
sympathetic to Mr. Sisi — chanting, “Leave! Leave!” — and called for the
resignation of the interior minister, Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar.

Many
Egyptians reported that TV stations broadcasting pictures of the crowd
had cut out audio feeds that carried the anti-government chants.

Such
public anger toward the government has become rare under Mr. Sisi, who
has imprisoned thousands of opposition figures, cracked down on civil
society and demonstrated little tolerance for the mildest street
protests.

The
blast coincided with a national holiday marking the birthday of the
Prophet Muhammad.

Shrapnel pockmarked religious icons and stone walls
inside the church, where witnesses gave graphic accounts of bloodied
bodies strewn across the broken pews.

Hundreds
of people streamed into nearby hospitals, frantically seeking news of
the wounded. Officials said at least six children were among the dead.

Egypt’s
beleaguered Coptic minority, which makes up about one-tenth of the
country’s roughly 90 million people, has been discriminated against for
decades, and has come under violent attack since the uprising that
toppled Mr. Mubarak.

The
leadership of the Coptic Church, under Pope Tawadros II, has been a
vocal supporter of Mr. Sisi, who came to power in 2013. But that support
has also made Copts a target for elements of the outlawed Muslim
Brotherhood.

Islamists attacked hundreds of Coptic churches and homes in
2013, in a backlash after the security forces killed hundreds of Muslim
Brotherhood demonstrators in central Cairo in August of that year.

The
violence smacks of sectarian prejudice because Mr. Sisi’s support stems
from Egypt’s Muslim majority. Tensions between Christians and Muslims
are highest in Minya, the province in upper Egypt that saw the worst
attacks on Copts in 2013.

Coptic
officials in Minya have counted at least 37 attacks in the past three
years, including episodes of houses set on fire and Copts being
assaulted on the streets.

“Once
again the lives of Egypt’s Christian minority are dispensed with as
objects within Egypt’s violent and cynical battle over power,” said
Timothy E. Kaldas, a nonresident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for
Middle East Policy.

After
the blast on Sunday, dozens of anguished Christians, some wearing
black, waited for news of the wounded and the dead outside El Demerdash
Hospital.

Noureen
Grace, her face streaked with tears, waited for the remains of her
sister-in-law, Madeline Michelle. “She was completely destroyed,” Ms.
Grace said, describing the trauma of witnessing the mutilated body. “I
spoke to her only yesterday. We spoke every day.”

Moments
later a red-faced woman, still heaving with grief, walked past. “They
are all dead,” she said, declining to give her name. “They were all my
friends.”

Police arrested a number of workers as they forcefully dispersed two
sit-ins at fertilizer companies in Suez governorate on Monday, while in
Cairo, a third sit-in by workers at Tanta Flax and Oils Company was
called off.

Security forces were deployed early on Monday morning
to the town of Ain al-Sokhna to disperse sit-ins involving around 1,000
workers at the Egyptian Fertilizers Company (EFC) and the Egyptian Basic Industries Corporation (EBIC), both owned by billionaire Nassif Sawiris.

Dozens
of protesting workers were briefly detained in the crackdown, with two
remaining in police custody. Suez-based trade unionist and regional
labor organizer Saud Omar told Mada Masr that security forces initially
arrested a large number of workers during the sit-in, but later released
them, with the exception of Mohamed Hashim and Yasser Geneidy, who were
referred to the district prosecutor pending investigations.

Security
forces arrested two other workers, Hossam Mohamed and Mohamed Nassar,
last week. District prosecutors ordered the extension of their detention
by 15 days on Sunday, pending investigation into charges of inciting
workers to strike.

Workers
demands at both the EFC and EBIC are the same, Omar explained, as both
companies are administered by Sawaris’ management. Workers began
protests and strikes after company administrators deducted some of their
bonuses, and workers’ grievances increased after the government’s
decision to float the Egyptian Pound against the US Dollar early last
month.

Both companies manufacture fertilizer products that are
exported to foreign markets, which should mean higher profits following
the floatation of the pound, as workers highlighted.

Two weeks
ago, worker-representatives informed the local office of the Ministry of
Manpower that they would embark on work stoppages before entering into
collective negotiations with company administrators. However, managers
refused to negotiate before the strike was called off and work resumed.

Both
companies filed complaints about strike leaders with security forces,
according to Omar, who explained that workers resumed their sit-ins on
Monday morning, demanding increased wages and the immediate release of
their coworkers.

The sit-in started on Sunday
afternoon, as former workers awaited compensation payments from the
Ministry of Public Works. Ministerial officials promised pay-offs of
LE65,000 per worker in August, in exchange for them giving up their
demands to be reinstated in their jobs.

Seeking their
end-of-service compensations, representatives of some 243 workers, who
were forced into early retirement following the privatization of the
company, were due to meet with officials from the Ministry of Public
Works on Tuesday. But the meeting was pushed back, according to one of
the main workers negotiating with officials, Gamal Othman. Frustrated
coworkers questioned Othman’s decision to agree to suspend the sit-in.

“I
understand there were threats, along with concerns that the police
would storm our sit-in and arrest us. But we’ve accomplished nothing
here,” said Othman’s coworker Abdel Aziz Mohamed, who added, “We agreed
to give up our jobs in exchange for compensation. Now we have neither.”

According to workers’ accounts, the state-owned Holding Company for Chemical Industries
(which currently owns and manages the Tanta Flax and Oils Company) had
initially proposed the end-of-service compensations nearly four months
ago. But officials said they would only release the payments after
receiving clearance from the Finance Ministry that it would cover the
full amount of around LE16 million. Spokesperson for the Ministry of
Finance, Ayman al-Kaffas, however, told Mada Masr that he had no
knowledge of any such agreement.

Over 400 workers were pushed into
early retirement following the privatization of the Tanta Flax and Oils
Company in 2005. After years of trying to be reinstated, nearly half of
these workers are now seeking compensation packages. Many are currently
receiving pensions amounting to a maximum of LE700 per month.

In
September 2011, an administrative court ruled in favor of the company’s
workers, nullifying the privatization contract for the Tanta Flax and
Oils Company. The government sought to overturn the verdict, but it was
upheld by a higher-level administrative court in September 2013. The
court ruled that the company had been sold for far less than its actual
worth, and that there were administrative and contractual violations
involved.

Sat Dec 3, 2016
Egypt's Supreme
Constitutional Court upheld on Saturday a law that effectively bans
protests, settling a years-long court battle and protecting the law from
further challenges.
The law
was passed in 2013 amid persistent demonstrations calling for the
reinstatement of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mursi after the
military overthrew him following mass protests against his rule.
It
requires would-be protesters to notify the interior ministry of any
public gathering of more than 10 people at least three days in advance,
imposes jail sentences of up to five years for those who violate a broad
list of protest restrictions, and allows security forces to disperse
illegal demonstrations with water cannons, tear gas and birdshot.
The court's ruling keeps all of these elements of the law intact and there is no further appeal.

Egyptian
rights organizations have said the law criminalizes all forms of
peaceful assembly and gives the state a free hand to disperse peaceful
gatherings by force.
Its
strict enforcement has largely succeeded in ending the kind of mass
demonstrations that helped unseat two presidents in three years as
activists who have held even small, peaceful gatherings were detained.
The ruling means that hundreds of protesters arrested under the law will remain in prison.
"It
was a surprise. We were hoping that the constitutional court would come
down on the side of rights. There isn't a court in Egypt that has mercy
on the people," prominent human rights lawyer Gamal Eid told Reuters.
The
case was first brought to an administrative court in 2014 when a group
of lawyers challenged parts of the law they said violated article 73 of
the constitution.
The article
allows the "right to organize public meetings, marches, demonstrations
and all forms of peaceful protest while not carrying weapons of any
type, upon providing notification as regulated by law."

But the court ruled on Saturday that only
article 10, which grants the interior ministry authority to deny protest
requests, was unconstitutional.
It
upheld three other articles being challenged, including one which
requires protesters to submit detailed information on the location and
purpose of their gatherings and another stipulating jail sentences and
hefty fines for illegal demonstrations, which the law defines broadly.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Amid the dollar crisis and a shortage of hard currency, Egypt’s
environment minister proposed the creation of crocodile farms on Lake
Nasser in the country’s far south to breed the reptiles for export,
estimating each crocodile could fetch up to $US400.

Khaled Fahmy’s
proposal followed calls from parliamentarians, including the head of
the parliamentary committee for energy and the environment Talaat
al-Swedy, for tighter regulation of the illegal hunting and trade of
crocodiles in Egypt.

The Nile crocodile was previously endangered,
and categorized as an Appendix 1 animal, meaning it could not be
legally traded, Fahmy explained in a televised interview
with the privately owned Al-Hayah satellite channel on Sunday. But, in
2010 this was lifted, categorizing Nile crocodiles as a threatened
species that can be bred and traded with permission from authorities, in
keeping with the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to which Egypt is a signatory, Fahmy added.

In
order for Egypt to obtain permission and an export quota from CITES for
the trade, farms for the breeding of Nile crocodiles must be
established and approved.

A timeline for developing the farms and
commercial export plans are to be established in coordination with an
unnamed “national company,” which Fahmy said is due to present to CITES
representatives soon. The ministry is also planning to bring in experts
from Zambia and South Africa to act as supervisors for the initiative.

Egypt
does not require parliamentary approval for the export of crocodiles,
according to the minister, as regulations are included within the CITES
protocol, which Egypt ratified in 1978. If approval is not given from
convention officials, however, the trade is considered illegal.

A representative from the Environment Ministry, Loay Sayed, told the privately owned Youm7 news portal on Sunday there are currently around 3,000 crocodiles in Lake Nasser.

After
news spread that the Nile crocodile is no longer classified as an
endangered species, a number of fishermen began to illegally hunt them
in Lake Nasser, selling them for around US$8. If breeding is regulated,
they are likely to have higher quality skins that could fetch
significantly more, Fahmy speculated.

The minister informed the
parliamentary environment committee that he plans to have the crocodile
farms ready for global exports within four years.

The first stage
of the initiative will involve breeding the reptiles, Sayed said. After
that, by 2018, the eggs will be transferred from the nurseries, before
the crocodiles are exported, around 2020.

The Nile crocodile is
the second largest living reptile on earth, after the saltwater
crocodile. On average, adult Nile crocodiles measure between three and
five meters long, and can weigh between 200 to 750 kilos.

Although they are mostly found in Lake Nasser, there have been individual crocodiles sighted in the Nile as far north as Cairo.

In
the 1950s the species was almost extinct, but after the construction of
the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s, and their subsequent isolation in Lake
Nasser, Nile crocodiles started to make a comeback.

The Nile crocodile was revered in ancient Egypt, depicted in images of the crocodile-headed deity Sobek.

The Doha-based Al Jazeera television channel and the Qatari
government continue to face rebuke in Egypt following Sunday night’s
broadcast of a documentary on the conditions of conscripts in Egypt’s
Armed Forces.

While Egyptian media have been the principal figures
leading the response, nationalist hashtags supporting the military
surfaced on social media and members of Egypt’s Parliament called for an end to diplomatic relations with Qatar.

Anger toward the film, titled The Soldiers: Story of conscription in the Egyptian Armed Forces, began on Friday with the release of its trailer, which includes reenactment footage of soldiers crawling through a field in their undergarments.

The
film consists of the testimonies of former military conscripts
regarding the abuse they faced while enlisted. Many said that the
training they received was futile and did not prepare them for combat.

Some
of the media coverage became more incendiary on Monday, following the
broadcast. The privately owned al-Bawaba newspaper’s Managing Editor
Mohamed al-Baz wrote an article titled
“A look at our mentally ill Qatari brother,” contending that Qatar’s
jealousy of Egypt’s size and significance prompted it to betray its
fellow Arab country to conspire with their common enemies.

In the same issue, Al-Bawaba columnist Nashat al-Deihy wrote an opinion article
that begins with the sentence, “The prince is gay and his mother is a
prostitute.” He proceeds to call Qatar, “The island of gays and
prostitutes.”

Several daily newspapers also published accounts on
Monday of reporters who were allowed to visit military training camps,
using phrasing such as “the den of lions” and “the factory of saviors” for what the Al Jazeera documentary portrayed as places of abuse.

The privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper published a cartoon
on Monday depicting Qatari nationals watching the film and asking one
another, “What is a military?” a reference to the country’s smaller
military. This follows a cartoon in Sunday’s issue featuring an Egyptian
struggling to point out where Qatar is on the map due to its small
size.

However, these gestures are only the most recent in a series
of comments issued by a broad range of figures across Egyptian society
in the days leading up to the broadcast.

During a telephone
interview on Youssef al-Husseini’s “Sada al-Muhtaramon” (Respectable
Gentlemen) on Sunday, Foreign Minister spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid stated
that it was clear that the film aimed to destabilize public confidence
in the Armed Forces, a goal he asserted it would not accomplish. While
Egypt’s media could address the claims advanced by the documentary, the
Egyptian government, he continued, would not respond to a news channel.

Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawky Allam also affirmed
support for Egypt’s military, saying it stands like a “proud mountain”
and would not be affected by the slander propagated by partisan media
platforms.
Amr Adib took to the air on Sunday night, saying that
Qatar’s military is dependent on foreign elements and that the country
does not understand the structure of Egypt’s Armed Forces. “Al-Ashera
Masa’an” (10 pm) host Wael al-Ebrashy argued that outsiders “may not
understand that compulsory military service in Egypt is a national and
humanitarian duty.”

Lamis al-Hadidy, the host of “Huna al-'Asema”
(Here’s the Capital) appealed to how conscription unifies Egyptians from
every class, religion and race in the service of a nationalist
endeavor. “Our military is a great national army. It is not a mercenary
army. It is an army whose members come from every household in Egypt.
Sacrifice, self-denial and glory are the slogans of the Egyptian
solider.”

Regime supporters rallied around the hashtag “We will beat Tamim with a shoe” ahead of the screening on Sunday, a reference to the Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. Ahmed Moussa is reported to have promoted use of the hashtag on his show “‘Ala Mas'ouliti” (My Responsibility.)

A lawsuit was reportedly filed
against Emad Eldin al-Sayed, the documentary’s director and an Egyptian
national, on Sunday, claiming that he had defamed Egypt’s Armed Forces.
Other media outlets reported that Sayed is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and an agent of Qatar. The director has denied these claims.

In an interview with the Huffington Post
Arabic, Sayed explained that he is not attempting to tarnish the image
of Egypt’s military. To the contrary, he told the Qatari-funded site
that the “film is biased in favor of the Armed Forces,” adding that he
is not opposed to military conscription.

“The film does not reject
conscription. Rather, it discusses frequently-occurring incidents and
accounts that are known to the Egyptian populace, including the
punishment that conscripts face while enlisted, along with the
exploitation of conscripted soldiers in labor markets outside the scope
of military service.”

Sayed also told the Qatari-funded SasaPost
news outlet that much of the documentary draws from footage either
filmed by hidden cameras or leaked by conscripts who had captured it
while on duty. However, other scenes feature reenactments based on
testimony and archival documents.

Security forces raided Al Jazeera’s offices in
Egypt during the June 30 revolution. The channel’s employees have been
banned from operating in Egypt, with the last affiliate channel, “Mubasher Misr” (Live from Egypt), being shut down in December 2014.

Egyptian
police arrested and jailed four members of the Al Jazeera English
channel, claiming that the four used rooms in the Marriott Hotel in
Cairo to meet with Muslim Brotherhood members. They were charged with
broadcasting news that could harm national security and disseminating
false information. The ensuing legal proceedings against Mohamed Fahmy,
Peter Greste, Baher Mohamed became known as the “Marriott Cell” case. Greste, an Australian national, was deported
in February 2015, and Fahmy, the Egyptian-Canadian bureau chief, and
Mohamed, an Egyptian correspondent, were released from jail in September
of the same year.

Al Jazeera, which is funded by the Qatari
government, is widely perceived in Egypt to serve as the mouthpiece for
the Muslim Brotherhood.

Two Al Jazeera Arabic reporters – Abdallah
al-Shamy and Mohamed Badr – were arrested on August 14, 2013 during the
violent dispersal of the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in, which resulted in the
deaths of several hundreds of supporters of former President Mohamed
Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Military conscription in Egypt
lasts between one and three years, depending on level of education.

Conscription is limited to able-bodied males between the ages of 18 and
30 years old and is pursuant to the completion of formal education.
Conscripts with little or no formal education are often drafted into the
Central Security Forces and typically serve for three years under the
auspices of the Interior Ministry rather than the Armed Forces.

Mass demonstrations planned for November 11, promoted as
the“Revolution of the Poor,” largely failed to materialize in Cairo on
Friday. Some minor protests, marches and clashes took place in other
governorates including Giza, Alexandria and Beheira, among others.

Dozens
of protesters were reportedly arrested on Friday, with mainstream media
outlets reporting that nearly all those arrested were associated with
the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group. The Reuters-affiliated Aswat Masriya reported that
security forces arrested 45 protesters nationwide on Friday, although
the total number of detainees may actually be higher.

The state-owned Al-Akhbar news portal reported that 33 protesters were arrested while
taking part in three protest marches in the town of Kafr al-Dawwar in
Beheira. Those arrested were described as “elements of the terrorist
Brotherhood” by Al-Akhbar, which also reported that police officers
fired tear gas canisters to disperse demonstrations.

The
so-called 11/11 demonstrations were planned to protest ongoing
austerity measures, including price hikes and subsidy cuts. The
government implemented economic reforms to meet the conditions of a deal brokered with the International Monetary Fund for a US$12 billion loan, which is expected to be finalized on Friday.

The identities of those behind the calls for the demonstrations remain unknown with little indication as to who the organizers are.
The Muslim Brotherhood endorsed the protests, and announced that they
would be attending. Egypt’s state-owned Nile News channel reported on
Friday that security forces were placed on high alert amid “the calls
for chaos issued by the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood.”

Tahrir
Square was sealed off by the police and the Armed Forces on Friday, and
the Ministry of Interior ordered authorities to shut down the Sadat
Metro station, which leads up to the square, until further notice.

Photos
of small protests and marches were circulated on social media
platforms, particularly those in the city of Balteem in Kafr al-Sheikh. These demonstrations, along with those which took place in Suez, became a trending topic on Twitter.

Other notable protests were reported to have taken place in the town of Nahiya, in Giza, and in Alexandria around Al-Qaed Ibrahim Mosque where police are reported to have fired tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrations.

Armed
police units were deployed across Egypt’s towns and cities late
Thursday night, and patrols and checkpoints were also established.

A
correspondent told Mada Masr that there is “a very heavy security
presence” in Cairo’s populous working class neighborhood of Matareya,
stating “officers and troops are out in force in Matareya Square, and
they are preventing anybody from taking photos, even those attempting to
do so using their cellphones.”

The pro-regime, partisan Al-Wafd news portal reported on Friday that the “Revolution of the Poor” can only be found in Google searches, not in Egypt’s streets.

The top trending social media hashtags in Egypt on Friday were #محدش_نزل (“Nobody took to the streets”) along with #افتحوا_الميادين (“Open up the public squares”.)

A photograph of a young man holding
up a poster of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in one hand and waving an
Egyptian flag with the other, was widely circulated on social media.